EP2153520A1 - Buffer driver - Google Patents

Buffer driver

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Publication number
EP2153520A1
EP2153520A1 EP08750147A EP08750147A EP2153520A1 EP 2153520 A1 EP2153520 A1 EP 2153520A1 EP 08750147 A EP08750147 A EP 08750147A EP 08750147 A EP08750147 A EP 08750147A EP 2153520 A1 EP2153520 A1 EP 2153520A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
transistor
current
coupled
bias current
transistors
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP08750147A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP2153520B1 (en
Inventor
Bernhard Wolfgang Ruck
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Texas Instruments Deutschland GmbH
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Texas Instruments Deutschland GmbH
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Texas Instruments Deutschland GmbH filed Critical Texas Instruments Deutschland GmbH
Publication of EP2153520A1 publication Critical patent/EP2153520A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP2153520B1 publication Critical patent/EP2153520B1/en
Active legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
    • H03F3/00—Amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements
    • H03F3/45—Differential amplifiers
    • H03F3/45071—Differential amplifiers with semiconductor devices only
    • H03F3/45076—Differential amplifiers with semiconductor devices only characterised by the way of implementation of the active amplifying circuit in the differential amplifier
    • H03F3/45179—Differential amplifiers with semiconductor devices only characterised by the way of implementation of the active amplifying circuit in the differential amplifier using MOSFET transistors as the active amplifying circuit
    • H03F3/45183—Long tailed pairs
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
    • G09G3/00—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes
    • G09G3/04—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of a single character by selection from a plurality of characters, or by composing the character by combination of individual elements, e.g. segments using a combination of such display devices for composing words, rows or the like, in a frame with fixed character positions
    • G09G3/16—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of a single character by selection from a plurality of characters, or by composing the character by combination of individual elements, e.g. segments using a combination of such display devices for composing words, rows or the like, in a frame with fixed character positions by control of light from an independent source
    • G09G3/18—Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of a single character by selection from a plurality of characters, or by composing the character by combination of individual elements, e.g. segments using a combination of such display devices for composing words, rows or the like, in a frame with fixed character positions by control of light from an independent source using liquid crystals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
    • H03F3/00—Amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements
    • H03F3/30—Single-ended push-pull [SEPP] amplifiers; Phase-splitters therefor
    • H03F3/3001—Single-ended push-pull [SEPP] amplifiers; Phase-splitters therefor with field-effect transistors
    • H03F3/3022—CMOS common source output SEPP amplifiers
    • H03F3/3023—CMOS common source output SEPP amplifiers with asymmetrical driving of the end stage
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
    • H03F3/00—Amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements
    • H03F3/70—Charge amplifiers
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
    • G09G2330/00—Aspects of power supply; Aspects of display protection and defect management
    • G09G2330/02—Details of power systems and of start or stop of display operation
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
    • H03F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements covered by H03F3/00
    • H03F2203/45—Indexing scheme relating to differential amplifiers
    • H03F2203/45112—Indexing scheme relating to differential amplifiers the biasing of the differential amplifier being controlled from the input or the output signal
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
    • H03F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements covered by H03F3/00
    • H03F2203/45—Indexing scheme relating to differential amplifiers
    • H03F2203/45292—Indexing scheme relating to differential amplifiers the AAC comprising biasing means controlled by the signal
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
    • H03F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements covered by H03F3/00
    • H03F2203/45—Indexing scheme relating to differential amplifiers
    • H03F2203/45366—Indexing scheme relating to differential amplifiers the AAC comprising multiple transistors parallel coupled at their gates only, e.g. in a cascode dif amp, only those forming the composite common source transistor
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03F—AMPLIFIERS
    • H03F2203/00—Indexing scheme relating to amplifiers with only discharge tubes or only semiconductor devices as amplifying elements covered by H03F3/00
    • H03F2203/45—Indexing scheme relating to differential amplifiers
    • H03F2203/45551—Indexing scheme relating to differential amplifiers the IC comprising one or more switched capacitors

Definitions

  • the present invention generally relates to a buffer driver. More particularly, the present invention relates to a buffer circuit for driving liquid crystal displays.
  • Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in portable electronic equipment are usually controlled by a switch matrix coupling segments of the LCD to buffer drivers.
  • the buffers are used to drive the LCD segments with a stable voltage.
  • changing the number and location of the LCD segments connected to the buffers by the switch matrix abruptly changes the capacitive load on the buffers.
  • the buffers are dimensioned to satisfy the maximum currents. This results in an increased overall power consumption.
  • a conventional solution is described in "An Adaptive Biasing 1 -Stage CMOS Operational Amplifier for Driving High Capacitive Loads", by Parzhuber, H., Steinhagen, W.
  • a CMOS buffer circuit for liquid crystal display (LCD) drivers including a single stage operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) with a differential pair of transistors for receiving a differential input voltage, a bias current source coupled to the differential pair and a single-ended output, a first bias current generation stage with a differential pair of transistors coupled to receive the differential input voltage to produce an output current in an output current path in response to a positive differential input voltage, a second bias current generating stage with a differential pair of transistors coupled to receive the inverted differential input voltage to produce an output current in an output current path in response to a negative input voltage, wherein the output current path of both bias current generating stages are combined in a common current path and a current in the common current path is mirrored to the bias current source of the single stage OTA, so as to increase the bias current through the bias current source in response to an increasing magnitude of the differential input voltage.
  • OTA operational transconductance amplifier
  • a single stage operational transconductance amplifier which is inherently stable, in particular if large capacitive loads are coupled to the output of the amplifier.
  • the first and the second bias current generating stages are coupled to provide an increased bias current to the differential pair of the OTA in response to either a positive or a negative voltage difference at the differential voltage input of the OTA.
  • the differential input voltage is also coupled to the inputs of the first and the second bias current generating stages.
  • One bias current generating stage receives the differential input voltage with opposite polarity. This configuration takes account of the requirement to react on differential voltages in positive and in negative direction.
  • An increased bias current in the differential pair of the single stage OTA has a two-fold effect.
  • the transconductance gm of the input stage increases and the overall speed of the OTA is higher.
  • the output current for charging and discharging the capacitive loads is also increased.
  • the second bias current generating stages are substantially similar to each other.
  • the only difference between the two stages is the coupling of the input voltage having the opposite polarity for one of the bias current generating stages. This allows an increased current for voltage differences of the input voltage to be provided independent of the polarity of the input voltage.
  • Using the same basic architecture for the bias current generating stages simplifies the design and layout procedure.
  • each bias current generating stage has two diode coupled load transistors coupled to the transistors of the differential pair and a constant current source coupled to the common source connection of the differential pair.
  • the CMOS buffer includes further a first and a second transistor, the gates of which are coupled to the gates of the respective load transistors of the differential pair and the common source connection of the first and the second transistors are coupled to the drain of a third transistor.
  • the drain of the first transistor is coupled to ground and a drain of the second transistor is coupled to a constant current source, wherein the source of the third transistor is connected to a supply voltage and the gate of the third transistor is coupled to the drain of the second transistor.
  • a fourth transistor is coupled by its gate to the third transistor to mirror current through the third transistor to the fourth transistor.
  • the gate source voltage of the third transistor increases or decreases, such that the current through the fourth transistor is increased and decreased in accordance with the current through the third transistor.
  • the current increases exponentially in response to an increase of the voltage difference of the input differential voltage.
  • the OTA If the output of the OTA is connected to a negative input of the differential pair of the OTA, the OTA operates as a voltage follower having an amplification factor of 1. If the capacitive load coupled to the output of the voltage follower changes abruptly, the voltage difference at the inputs of the OTA increases. Accordingly, the bias current generating stages (either the first or the second dependent on the polarity of the input voltage) provides an increased current to the bias current source of the single stage OTA. Consequently, the OTA is biased to react immediately on the change of the output capacitance. When the output buffer according to the present invention has compensated the change of capacitance, the voltage difference at the inputs of the OTA returns to substantially zero and the bias current through the bias current source of the OTA returns to its minimum value.
  • the power consumption of the buffer according to the present invention is minimized as only the amount of current is supplied to the differential pair of the OTA, which is required to allow the change of capacitance to be compensated for quickly. Accordingly, the upper circuits according to the present invention have a low quiescent current, they are stable with any capacitive load and they are able to drive varying capacitive loads quickly.
  • Figure 1 is a buffer driver according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of an LCD driver using the buffer according to the present invention.
  • Figure 1 shows a buffer driver with a current mirror, which includes two complementary pairs of transistors.
  • An n-channel MOS transistor MN1 and a p-channel MOS transistor MP4 have interconnected drain terminals and form the first complementary pair of MOS transistors and an n-channel MOS transistor MNO and a p-channel MOS transistor MP3 also have interconnected drain terminals and from the second complementary pair of transistors.
  • the gate terminal of the transistor MN1 is operable to receive an input signal lnp and the gate terminal of the transistor MNO is operable to receive an input signal Inm.
  • the source terminals of the transistors MNO and MN1 are interconnected, as are the source terminals of the transistors MP3 and MP4.
  • the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP3 are interconnected and the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP4 are interconnected.
  • a node interconnecting the source terminals of the transistors MNO and MN1 is connected to the drain terminal of an n-channel MOS transistor MN9.
  • the source terminal of the transistor MN9 is connected to ground.
  • Source terminals of the transistors MP3 and MP4 are also connected to the source terminals of p-channel MOS transistors MP2 and MP5, respectively.
  • the transistors MP2 and MP3 also have interconnected gate terminals, as do the transistors MP4 and MP5.
  • the drain terminal of the transistor MP2 is connected to the drain terminal of an n-channel MOS transistor MN7 and the drain terminal of the transistor MP5 is connected to the drain terminal of an n- channel MOS transistor MN8.
  • Gate terminals of the transistors MN7 and MN8 are interconnected.
  • the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MN7 are interconnected.
  • Source terminals of the transistors MN7 and MN8 are connected to ground so that the source terminals of the transistors MN7, MN8 and MN9 are interconnected.
  • the transistors, MNO, MN1 , MP2, MP3, MP4, MP5, MN7 and MN8 then form a CMOS current mirror, which is a buffer driver circuit.
  • the output from the current mirror is provided at a node interconnecting the drain terminals of the transistors MP5 and MN8.
  • the gate terminal of the transistor MN9 is connected to the gate terminal of another n-channel MOS transistor MN 10.
  • the source terminal of the transistor MN10 is connected to ground.
  • the gate terminal and the drain terminal of the transistor MN10 are interconnected so that both the gate terminal and the drain terminal of the transistor MN10 are connected to two circuits, both of which are operable to provide a bias current to the current mirror.
  • the first circuit for generating a bias current comprises two complementary pairs of MOS transistors.
  • Two p-channel MOS transistors MP1 1 and MP12 have interconnected source terminals.
  • the transistor MP11 has a drain terminal connected to the drain terminal of an n- channel MOS transistor MN13 and the transistor MP12 has a drain terminal connected to the drain of an n-channel MOS transistor MN14.
  • the source terminals of the transistors MP1 1 and MP12 are interconnected and the source terminals of the transistors MN13 and MN14 are interconnected.
  • a node interconnecting the source terminals of the transistors MN13 and MN14 is connected to a current source 11.
  • the gate terminal of the transistor MN13 is connected to the input lnp and the gate terminal of the transistor MN 14 is connected to the input Inm.
  • the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP11 are interconnected and the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP12 are also interconnected.
  • the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP12 are also connected to the gate terminal of a p-channel MOS transistor MP15 and the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP11 are connected to the gate terminal of a p-channel MOS transistor MP16.
  • the source terminals of the transistors MP15 and MP16 and are also connected to the drain terminal of another p-channel MOS transistor MP17.
  • the source terminal of the transistor MP17 is connected to the source terminals of the transistors MP11 and MP12, and to the source terminal of another p-channel MOS transistor MP18.
  • the gate terminals of the transistors MP17 and MP18 are interconnected and a node interconnecting the gate terminals of the transistors MP17 and MP18 is connected to the drain terminal of the transistor MP16.
  • the drain terminal of the transistor MP 16 and the gate terminals of the transistors MP17 and MP18 are then connected to a second current source I2.
  • the current sources 11 and I2 are also connected to ground, as is the drain terminal of the transistor MP15.
  • the drain terminal of the transistor MP18 is connected to the drain terminal of the transistor MN10, as well as a node interconnecting the gate terminals of the transistors MN9 and MN 10.
  • the second circuit for generating a bias current operable to be input to the current mirror comprises two complementary pairs of MOS transistors.
  • the first pair consists of a p-channel MOS transistor MP19 having a drain terminal interconnected with the drain terminal of an n- channel MOS transistor MN21 and the second pair consists of a p-channel MOS transistor MP20 having a drain terminal interconnected with the drain terminal of an n-channel MOS transistor MN22.
  • the source terminals of the transistors MP19 and MP20 and the source terminals of the transistors MN21 and MN22, respectively, are interconnected.
  • the gate terminal of the transistor MN21 is operable to receive the input signal lnm nad
  • the gate terminal of the transistor MN22 is operable to receive the input signal Inp.
  • the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP19 are interconnected, as are the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP20.
  • a node interconnecting the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP19 is connected to the gate terminal of a p-channel MOS transistor MP24 and a node interconnecting the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP20 is connected to the gate terminal of a p-channel MOS transistor MP23.
  • the source terminals of the transistors MP23 and MP24 are interconnected and are also connected to the drain terminal of another p-channel MOS transistor MP25.
  • the source terminal of the transistor MP25 is connected to the source terminals of the transistors MP19 and MP20, and also to the source terminal of another p-channel MOS transistor MP26.
  • the gate terminals of the transistors MP25 and MP26 are also interconnected and a node interconnecting the gate terminals of the transistors MP25 and MP26 is connected to the drain terminal of the transistor MP24.
  • a node interconnecting source terminals of the transistors MN21 and MN22 is connected to a current source I3 and a node interconnecting both gate terminals of the transistors MP25 and MP26 with the drain terminal of the transistor MP24 is connected to another current source I4.
  • the other terminals of the current sources I3 and I4 are connected to ground, as is the drain terminal of the transistor MP23.
  • the drain terminal of the transistor MP26 is connected to the n-channel transistor MN10 at its drain terminal, and also to a node interconnecting the gate terminals of the transistors MN9 and MN 10.
  • the two bias current-generating circuits are identical, apart from that the input signals lnp and lnm are input to corresponding opposing transistors.
  • an input signal lnp is input to the transistors MN13 and MN22 and an input signal lnm is input to the transistors MN14 and MN21.
  • the first bias current generating circuit i.e., transistors MP1 1 to MP18
  • the difference between the voltages of the inputs lnp and lnm proportionally splits the current from the current source 11 , routing a fraction of the current through each transistor MN13 and MN14.
  • the second bias current generating circuit comprising the transistors MN19 to MN26; the voltage difference between the inputs lnp and lnm proportionally splits the current from the current source I3 between the transistors MN21 and MN22.
  • the voltage of the input signal lnp is lower than the signal lnm, then most of the current from the current source 11 will be routed through the transistor MN 14, and most of the current from the current source I3 will be routed through the transistor MN21.
  • the first bias current generating circuit MP11 to MP18 more current flows through the transistors MP12 and MP15 than the transistors MP1 1 and MP16.
  • the voltage drop across MP16 increases and the gate voltage of transistors MP17 and MP18 becomes more negative, i.e. moves closer to ground (GND).
  • a low gate voltage opens transistors MP17 and MP18 and increases the current through MP18.
  • the effect for the second bias current generating circuit MP19 to MP26 is different.
  • the current through transistor MP24 is limited to a constant current by current source I4.
  • MP23 contributes only little or no current.
  • the current through MP25 is basically defined by I4. This current is mirrored to MP26 and defines the minimum output current through MP26 if MP23 is closed. For a closed MP23, the second bias current generation circuit contributes only a minimum current through MN10.
  • the current through MP18 is approaches a lower limit, which is defined by current source I2 coupled to MP16, and MP17 in the same way as explained above.
  • the exact proportions of the currents depend on the dimensions of the transistors. Generally, there is always a larger current through M 10, either from the first or from the second bias generating circuit, which is mirrored to MN9. If the difference between the inputs lnp and lnm is zero, only a very small bias current is provided.
  • the output current of the bias current generating circuits is exponentially dependent on the difference in voltage between the input signals lnp and Inm. This exponential increase of the bias current allows a very fast charge up of capacitive loads. Furthermore, if the output voltage reaches the final value, the currents resume a minimum value, allowing a low average current consumption.
  • the circuit according to the present invention is inherently stable.
  • FIG. 2 shows a simplified block diagram and a schematic of an LCD driver configuration according to the present invention.
  • DC voltage V LCD is provided as a supply voltage for example by a charge pump or a similar means.
  • the supply voltage V LCD is buffered by capacitor CO.
  • the resistive voltage divider consisting of resistors R1 , R2, R3 and R4 is used to provide fractions of the supply voltage V LCD , such as 2/3 V L C D ,1 /2 V L C D or 1/3 V L C D -
  • the respective fractions of the supply voltage are buffered by capacitors C1 , C2, C3 and C4.
  • the buffer circuits according to the present invention are used as buffers BUF1 and BUF2.
  • the voltages 2/3 V LCD , 1/2 V LCD and 1/3 V LCD are supplied to the LCD switch matrix LCD-SM used as an interconnection to the LCD display, which is preferably a multi-segment LCD display.
  • Switches SW1 and SW2 serve to provide either 2/3 V
  • the magnitude of the fractions of the supply voltage V L C D depends on the specific LCD display and may be different for different applications.
  • the switching of the switch matrix LCD-SM converts the DC input voltage V LCD (and likewise the fractions 2/3 V LCD , 1/2 V LCD and 1/3 V LCD ) into an alternating voltage for the LCD display LCD-DISP.
  • the switch matrix LCD-SM connects the buffers BUF1 and BUF2 to different segments of the LCD display LCD-DISP, as sudden change of the capacitive load occurs at the outputs of BUF1 or/and BUF2. Accordingly, the output current is to be increased immediately.
  • the OTA according to the present invention is coupled as a voltage follower, a sudden change of the output capacitance entails a change of the input differential voltage for each OTA.
  • a difference voltage at the inputs of the OTA and the respective bias current generating stages as explained above results in an increased bias current through the bias current source of the OTA. Accordingly, the OTA is able to react quickly with an increased output current to a change of the output capacitance.
  • the buffers resume their quiescent state and no additional current is supplied by the bias current stages as the differential input signal returns to a value of zero volts.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Amplifiers (AREA)
  • Liquid Crystal Display Device Control (AREA)
  • Control Of Indicators Other Than Cathode Ray Tubes (AREA)

Abstract

The present invention relates to a CMOS buffer circuit for liquid crystal display (LCD) drivers, which includes a single stage operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) with a differential of transistors for receiving a differential input voltage, a bias current source coupled to the differential pair and a single-ended output, the first bias current generating stage with a differential pair of transistors coupled to receive the differential input voltage to produce an output current in an output current path in response to a positive differential input voltage, a second bias current generating stage with a differential pair of transistors coupled to receive the inverted differential input voltage to produce an output current in an output current path in response to a negative input voltage, wherein the output current paths of both bias current generating stages are combined in a common current path and the current in the common current path is mirrored to the bias current source of the single stage OTA, so as to increase the bias current through the bias current source in response to an increasing magnitude of the differential input voltage.

Description

Buffer Driver
The present invention generally relates to a buffer driver. More particularly, the present invention relates to a buffer circuit for driving liquid crystal displays.
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in portable electronic equipment are usually controlled by a switch matrix coupling segments of the LCD to buffer drivers. The buffers are used to drive the LCD segments with a stable voltage. However, changing the number and location of the LCD segments connected to the buffers by the switch matrix abruptly changes the capacitive load on the buffers. In order to allow the required large currents to be drawn from the driver circuits, the buffers are dimensioned to satisfy the maximum currents. This results in an increased overall power consumption. A conventional solution is described in "An Adaptive Biasing 1 -Stage CMOS Operational Amplifier for Driving High Capacitive Loads", by Parzhuber, H., Steinhagen, W. in Solid-State Circuits, III of Volume 26, ISSUE 10, Oct. 1991 , page(s): 1457-1460. This prior art solution suggests using a one-stage CMOS operational amplifier as a buffer, where an additional output current is added to the output branches of the CMOS operational amplifier. However, the prior art adaptively biased operational amplifier is not able to provide the same amount of extra output current quickly enough, as the speed of the amplifier remains unchanged. Other solutions with better speed use several gain stages and have restricted stability, especially for larger capacitive loads.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved architecture for a buffer to be used for abruptly varying capacitive loads, which is faster and has a reduced power consumption.
Accordingly, a CMOS buffer circuit for liquid crystal display (LCD) drivers is provided including a single stage operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) with a differential pair of transistors for receiving a differential input voltage, a bias current source coupled to the differential pair and a single-ended output, a first bias current generation stage with a differential pair of transistors coupled to receive the differential input voltage to produce an output current in an output current path in response to a positive differential input voltage, a second bias current generating stage with a differential pair of transistors coupled to receive the inverted differential input voltage to produce an output current in an output current path in response to a negative input voltage, wherein the output current path of both bias current generating stages are combined in a common current path and a current in the common current path is mirrored to the bias current source of the single stage OTA, so as to increase the bias current through the bias current source in response to an increasing magnitude of the differential input voltage. Accordingly, a single stage operational transconductance amplifier is provided, which is inherently stable, in particular if large capacitive loads are coupled to the output of the amplifier. The first and the second bias current generating stages are coupled to provide an increased bias current to the differential pair of the OTA in response to either a positive or a negative voltage difference at the differential voltage input of the OTA. The differential input voltage is also coupled to the inputs of the first and the second bias current generating stages. One bias current generating stage receives the differential input voltage with opposite polarity. This configuration takes account of the requirement to react on differential voltages in positive and in negative direction. An increased bias current in the differential pair of the single stage OTA has a two-fold effect. Firstly, as the current in the input stage increases, the transconductance gm of the input stage increases and the overall speed of the OTA is higher. Secondly, as the bias current from the input stage is mirrored to the output branches, the output current for charging and discharging the capacitive loads is also increased.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the second bias current generating stages are substantially similar to each other. The only difference between the two stages is the coupling of the input voltage having the opposite polarity for one of the bias current generating stages. This allows an increased current for voltage differences of the input voltage to be provided independent of the polarity of the input voltage. Using the same basic architecture for the bias current generating stages simplifies the design and layout procedure.
Preferably, the current through the bias current source of the OTA increases exponentially in response to an increasing magnitude of the differential voltage input to the current mirror from the two bias circuits. This allows the OTA to respond quickly to a change at the input voltage. The specific implementation of a bias current generating stage may be carried out as follows. Accordingly, each bias current generating stage has two diode coupled load transistors coupled to the transistors of the differential pair and a constant current source coupled to the common source connection of the differential pair. The CMOS buffer includes further a first and a second transistor, the gates of which are coupled to the gates of the respective load transistors of the differential pair and the common source connection of the first and the second transistors are coupled to the drain of a third transistor. The drain of the first transistor is coupled to ground and a drain of the second transistor is coupled to a constant current source, wherein the source of the third transistor is connected to a supply voltage and the gate of the third transistor is coupled to the drain of the second transistor. Eventually, a fourth transistor is coupled by its gate to the third transistor to mirror current through the third transistor to the fourth transistor. Dependent on the magnitude and the polarity of the input voltage coupled to the differential input pair of the current generating stage, the gate source voltage of the third transistor increases or decreases, such that the current through the fourth transistor is increased and decreased in accordance with the current through the third transistor. In particular, the current increases exponentially in response to an increase of the voltage difference of the input differential voltage.
If the output of the OTA is connected to a negative input of the differential pair of the OTA, the OTA operates as a voltage follower having an amplification factor of 1. If the capacitive load coupled to the output of the voltage follower changes abruptly, the voltage difference at the inputs of the OTA increases. Accordingly, the bias current generating stages (either the first or the second dependent on the polarity of the input voltage) provides an increased current to the bias current source of the single stage OTA. Consequently, the OTA is biased to react immediately on the change of the output capacitance. When the output buffer according to the present invention has compensated the change of capacitance, the voltage difference at the inputs of the OTA returns to substantially zero and the bias current through the bias current source of the OTA returns to its minimum value. The power consumption of the buffer according to the present invention is minimized as only the amount of current is supplied to the differential pair of the OTA, which is required to allow the change of capacitance to be compensated for quickly. Accordingly, the upper circuits according to the present invention have a low quiescent current, they are stable with any capacitive load and they are able to drive varying capacitive loads quickly.
Further advantages and characteristics of the invention ensue from the description below of a preferred embodiment, and from the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a buffer driver according to the present invention, and
Figure 2 is a simplified block diagram of an LCD driver using the buffer according to the present invention.
Figure 1 shows a buffer driver with a current mirror, which includes two complementary pairs of transistors. An n-channel MOS transistor MN1 and a p-channel MOS transistor MP4 have interconnected drain terminals and form the first complementary pair of MOS transistors and an n-channel MOS transistor MNO and a p-channel MOS transistor MP3 also have interconnected drain terminals and from the second complementary pair of transistors. The gate terminal of the transistor MN1 is operable to receive an input signal lnp and the gate terminal of the transistor MNO is operable to receive an input signal Inm. The source terminals of the transistors MNO and MN1 are interconnected, as are the source terminals of the transistors MP3 and MP4. The gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP3 are interconnected and the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP4 are interconnected. A node interconnecting the source terminals of the transistors MNO and MN1 is connected to the drain terminal of an n-channel MOS transistor MN9. The source terminal of the transistor MN9 is connected to ground.
Source terminals of the transistors MP3 and MP4 are also connected to the source terminals of p-channel MOS transistors MP2 and MP5, respectively. The transistors MP2 and MP3 also have interconnected gate terminals, as do the transistors MP4 and MP5. The drain terminal of the transistor MP2 is connected to the drain terminal of an n-channel MOS transistor MN7 and the drain terminal of the transistor MP5 is connected to the drain terminal of an n- channel MOS transistor MN8. Gate terminals of the transistors MN7 and MN8 are interconnected. The gate and drain terminals of the transistor MN7 are interconnected. Source terminals of the transistors MN7 and MN8 are connected to ground so that the source terminals of the transistors MN7, MN8 and MN9 are interconnected.
The transistors, MNO, MN1 , MP2, MP3, MP4, MP5, MN7 and MN8 then form a CMOS current mirror, which is a buffer driver circuit. The output from the current mirror is provided at a node interconnecting the drain terminals of the transistors MP5 and MN8. The gate terminal of the transistor MN9 is connected to the gate terminal of another n-channel MOS transistor MN 10. The source terminal of the transistor MN10 is connected to ground. The gate terminal and the drain terminal of the transistor MN10 are interconnected so that both the gate terminal and the drain terminal of the transistor MN10 are connected to two circuits, both of which are operable to provide a bias current to the current mirror.
The first circuit for generating a bias current comprises two complementary pairs of MOS transistors. Two p-channel MOS transistors MP1 1 and MP12 have interconnected source terminals. The transistor MP11 has a drain terminal connected to the drain terminal of an n- channel MOS transistor MN13 and the transistor MP12 has a drain terminal connected to the drain of an n-channel MOS transistor MN14. The source terminals of the transistors MP1 1 and MP12 are interconnected and the source terminals of the transistors MN13 and MN14 are interconnected. A node interconnecting the source terminals of the transistors MN13 and MN14 is connected to a current source 11.
The gate terminal of the transistor MN13 is connected to the input lnp and the gate terminal of the transistor MN 14 is connected to the input Inm. The gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP11 are interconnected and the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP12 are also interconnected. The gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP12 are also connected to the gate terminal of a p-channel MOS transistor MP15 and the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP11 are connected to the gate terminal of a p-channel MOS transistor MP16. The source terminals of the transistors MP15 and MP16 and are also connected to the drain terminal of another p-channel MOS transistor MP17. The source terminal of the transistor MP17 is connected to the source terminals of the transistors MP11 and MP12, and to the source terminal of another p-channel MOS transistor MP18. The gate terminals of the transistors MP17 and MP18 are interconnected and a node interconnecting the gate terminals of the transistors MP17 and MP18 is connected to the drain terminal of the transistor MP16. The drain terminal of the transistor MP 16 and the gate terminals of the transistors MP17 and MP18 are then connected to a second current source I2. The current sources 11 and I2 are also connected to ground, as is the drain terminal of the transistor MP15. The drain terminal of the transistor MP18 is connected to the drain terminal of the transistor MN10, as well as a node interconnecting the gate terminals of the transistors MN9 and MN 10.
The second circuit for generating a bias current operable to be input to the current mirror comprises two complementary pairs of MOS transistors. The first pair consists of a p-channel MOS transistor MP19 having a drain terminal interconnected with the drain terminal of an n- channel MOS transistor MN21 and the second pair consists of a p-channel MOS transistor MP20 having a drain terminal interconnected with the drain terminal of an n-channel MOS transistor MN22. The source terminals of the transistors MP19 and MP20 and the source terminals of the transistors MN21 and MN22, respectively, are interconnected. The gate terminal of the transistor MN21 is operable to receive the input signal lnm nad the gate terminal of the transistor MN22 is operable to receive the input signal Inp. The gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP19 are interconnected, as are the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP20. A node interconnecting the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP19 is connected to the gate terminal of a p-channel MOS transistor MP24 and a node interconnecting the gate and drain terminals of the transistor MP20 is connected to the gate terminal of a p-channel MOS transistor MP23. The source terminals of the transistors MP23 and MP24 are interconnected and are also connected to the drain terminal of another p-channel MOS transistor MP25. The source terminal of the transistor MP25 is connected to the source terminals of the transistors MP19 and MP20, and also to the source terminal of another p-channel MOS transistor MP26. The gate terminals of the transistors MP25 and MP26 are also interconnected and a node interconnecting the gate terminals of the transistors MP25 and MP26 is connected to the drain terminal of the transistor MP24.
A node interconnecting source terminals of the transistors MN21 and MN22 is connected to a current source I3 and a node interconnecting both gate terminals of the transistors MP25 and MP26 with the drain terminal of the transistor MP24 is connected to another current source I4. The other terminals of the current sources I3 and I4 are connected to ground, as is the drain terminal of the transistor MP23. The drain terminal of the transistor MP26 is connected to the n-channel transistor MN10 at its drain terminal, and also to a node interconnecting the gate terminals of the transistors MN9 and MN 10. Thus both current bias-generating circuits are connected to the current mirror circuit via the transistors MN9 and MN10.
Therefore the two bias current-generating circuits are identical, apart from that the input signals lnp and lnm are input to corresponding opposing transistors.
In operation, an input signal lnp is input to the transistors MN13 and MN22 and an input signal lnm is input to the transistors MN14 and MN21. In the first bias current generating circuit; i.e., transistors MP1 1 to MP18, the difference between the voltages of the inputs lnp and lnm proportionally splits the current from the current source 11 , routing a fraction of the current through each transistor MN13 and MN14. The same thing happens in the second bias current generating circuit comprising the transistors MN19 to MN26; the voltage difference between the inputs lnp and lnm proportionally splits the current from the current source I3 between the transistors MN21 and MN22.
If the voltage of the input signal lnp is lower than the signal lnm, then most of the current from the current source 11 will be routed through the transistor MN 14, and most of the current from the current source I3 will be routed through the transistor MN21. For the first bias current generating circuit MP11 to MP18, more current flows through the transistors MP12 and MP15 than the transistors MP1 1 and MP16. The voltage drop across MP16 increases and the gate voltage of transistors MP17 and MP18 becomes more negative, i.e. moves closer to ground (GND). A low gate voltage opens transistors MP17 and MP18 and increases the current through MP18. The effect for the second bias current generating circuit MP19 to MP26 is different. More current flows through the transistors MP19 and MP24 than through the transistors MP20 and MP23. Yet, the current through transistor MP24 is limited to a constant current by current source I4. MP23 contributes only little or no current. So, the current through MP25 is basically defined by I4. This current is mirrored to MP26 and defines the minimum output current through MP26 if MP23 is closed. For a closed MP23, the second bias current generation circuit contributes only a minimum current through MN10.
If lnm is lower than lnp, the current through MP18 is approaches a lower limit, which is defined by current source I2 coupled to MP16, and MP17 in the same way as explained above. The exact proportions of the currents depend on the dimensions of the transistors. Generally, there is always a larger current through M 10, either from the first or from the second bias generating circuit, which is mirrored to MN9. If the difference between the inputs lnp and lnm is zero, only a very small bias current is provided. For properly dimensioned transistors, the output current of the bias current generating circuits is exponentially dependent on the difference in voltage between the input signals lnp and Inm. This exponential increase of the bias current allows a very fast charge up of capacitive loads. Furthermore, if the output voltage reaches the final value, the currents resume a minimum value, allowing a low average current consumption. Compared with multiple stage OTAs, the circuit according to the present invention is inherently stable.
Figure 2 shows a simplified block diagram and a schematic of an LCD driver configuration according to the present invention. A
DC voltage VLCD is provided as a supply voltage for example by a charge pump or a similar means. The supply voltage VLCD is buffered by capacitor CO. The resistive voltage divider consisting of resistors R1 , R2, R3 and R4 is used to provide fractions of the supply voltage VLCD, such as 2/3 VLCD,1 /2 VLCD or 1/3 VLCD- The respective fractions of the supply voltage are buffered by capacitors C1 , C2, C3 and C4. The buffer circuits according to the present invention are used as buffers BUF1 and BUF2. The voltages 2/3 VLCD, 1/2 VLCD and 1/3 VLCD are supplied to the LCD switch matrix LCD-SM used as an interconnection to the LCD display, which is preferably a multi-segment LCD display. Switches SW1 and SW2 serve to provide either 2/3 V|_CD or 1/2 V|_CD to BU F1. The magnitude of the fractions of the supply voltage VLCD depends on the specific LCD display and may be different for different applications. The switching of the switch matrix LCD-SM converts the DC input voltage VLCD (and likewise the fractions 2/3 VLCD, 1/2 VLCD and 1/3 VLCD) into an alternating voltage for the LCD display LCD-DISP. If the switch matrix LCD-SM connects the buffers BUF1 and BUF2 to different segments of the LCD display LCD-DISP, as sudden change of the capacitive load occurs at the outputs of BUF1 or/and BUF2. Accordingly, the output current is to be increased immediately. If the OTA according to the present invention is coupled as a voltage follower, a sudden change of the output capacitance entails a change of the input differential voltage for each OTA. A difference voltage at the inputs of the OTA and the respective bias current generating stages as explained above, results in an increased bias current through the bias current source of the OTA. Accordingly, the OTA is able to react quickly with an increased output current to a change of the output capacitance. After charging or discharging the load at the output of buffers BUF1 and/or BUF2, the buffers resume their quiescent state and no additional current is supplied by the bias current stages as the differential input signal returns to a value of zero volts.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to a specific embodiment, it is not limited to this embodiment and no doubt further alternatives will occur to the skilled person that lie within the scope of the invention as claimed.

Claims

Claims
1. A CMOS buffer circuit, comprising
an single stage operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) with a differential pair of transistors for receiving a differential input voltage, a bias current source coupled to the differential pair and a single-ended output,
a first bias current generating stage with a differential pair of transistors coupled to receive the differential input voltage to produce an output current in an output current path in response to a positive differential input voltage,
a second bias current generating stage with a differential pair of transistors coupled to receive the inverted differential input voltage to produce an output current in an output current path in response to a negative input voltage, wherein
the output current paths of both bias current generating stages are combined in a common current path and the current in the common current path is mirrored to the bias current source of the single stage OTA, so as to increase the bias current through the bias current source in response to an increasing magnitude of the differential input voltage.
2. The CMOS buffer circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the first and the second bias current generating stages are substantially similar to each other except that the first bias current generating stage is coupled to receive the first differential input voltage and the second bias current generating stage is coupled to receive the inverted input voltage.
3. The CMOS buffer circuit according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the current through the bias current source of the OTA increases exponentially in response to an increasing magnitude of the differential voltage input to the current mirror from the two bias circuits.
4. The CMOS buffer circuit according to claim 3, wherein in each bias current generating stage has two diode coupled load transistors coupled to the transistors of the differential pair and a constant current source coupled to the common source connection of the differential pair, the CMOS buffer comprising further a first and second transistor having their gates coupled to the gates of the respective load transistor and a common source connection coupled to the drain of a third transistor, the drain of the first transistor being coupled to ground and the drain of the second transistor being coupled to a constant current source, wherein the source of the third transistor is connected to a supply voltage and the gate of the third transistor is coupled to the drain of the second transistor, wherein a fourth transistor is coupled by its gate to the third transistor to mirror the current through the third transistors to the fourth transistor.
5. The CMOS buffer circuit according to any preceding claim, wherein the output of the OTA is connected to a negative input of the differential pair to operate as a voltage follower.
EP08750147A 2007-05-07 2008-05-07 Buffer driver Active EP2153520B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

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DE102007021254A DE102007021254B4 (en) 2007-05-07 2007-05-07 buffer drivers
US1667807P 2007-12-26 2007-12-26
US12/111,307 US7583147B2 (en) 2007-05-07 2008-04-29 Buffer drive
PCT/EP2008/055627 WO2008135590A1 (en) 2007-05-07 2008-05-07 Buffer driver

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US7583147B2 (en) 2009-09-01
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DE102007021254B4 (en) 2009-08-06
EP2153520B1 (en) 2012-07-11

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